COEUR d’ALENE — When Coeur d’Alene High senior Garrett DeMers was walking around between the second and third period of his 195-pound championship match at Saturday’s Tri-State Invitational, it appeared his time was running short.

Fortunately for DeMers — it was just getting started.

After leading after the first period 4-0, DeMers attempted to cradle Matt Hopkins from Tahoma of Covington, Wash., but was caught on his back and was nearly pinned in the process. When the buzzer sounded after the second period, Hopkins was penalized a point for jerking on DeMers’ shoulder, leaving him slow to get off the mat.

The match was tied at 5.

“My shoulder was hurting and I was gassed,” DeMers said. “But I didn’t want to win on a penalty point. I wanted to win fair and square.”

DeMers received some advice between periods from assistant coach Kelly Moffat that proved to be a difference maker in a 7-6 win.

“Kelly told me to cut him and give him a point,” DeMers said. “I was able to get him down and held on to win. It feels amazing right now. There’s nothing better than this. With the help of the Lord, I was able to overcome the injury and get the win.”

“This was a good stepping stone for him,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “Garrett trains hard. We expect him in the finals of every tournament we compete in. He made a mistake early, but it was good to not see him get rattled. He didn’t panic and was able to finish the match strong.”

In the 145-pound final, Post Falls senior James Ost was unable to escape the grasp of Jeremy Golding of Mead in the final seconds, falling 3-1.

“It was another real close match between those two,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “James had a great tournament and I was proud of his effort.”

Golding beat Ost 4-3 in the finals of the Inland Empire Classic at Central Valley High on Dec. 10.

“I felt I had a really good day,” Ost said. “I came back this morning and beat a defending state champion (Kyle Leir of Libby) in the semifinals. I was looking to control and pace the championship match, which I did. Everything was working good, but I made a mistake and there wasn’t enough time to recover. It’s frustrating to lose right now, but I left it all out on the mat.”

Post Falls, which qualified five for the semifinals and three to the finals, wound up with six placers and finished fourth with 170.5 points, just a half-point behind Lewiston. Mead won its second straight team title with four individual champions and totaled 204 points.

“It was an up-and-down tournament,” Reardon said. “Bigger tournaments like this are like that. Mead just ran away with it, but No. 2 through No. 5 was up for grabs all weekend. This is a good measuring stick of where we’re at. We’ll get back into the wrestling room and get better from this.”

Post Falls freshman Drake Foster fell to Tristan Moran of Chandler (Ariz.) 6-4 in the 106-pound championship.

“There’s some tough kids out there,” said Foster of his first Tri-State Invitational. “This is one of the toughest tournaments in the Northwest.”

Foster appeared to take Moran down with 20 seconds remaining, which would have tied the match, but Moran was ruled out of bounds by the officials.

“I was nervous in that final match,” Foster said. “I’ve been to nationals in youth wrestling, but this is high school. My next goal is to win at Rollie (Lane) and state.”

“He had an outstanding tournament,” Reardon said. “He’s not a typical freshman. He’s well seasoned. It was a real close match. He’ll learn from it and get better.”

Tyler Booth (152) finished third, Austin Wilson (160) fourth, Cole Jesienouski (170) fifth and Cody Johnson (182) fifth for Post Falls.

Nate Partenfelder (152) was fifth for Lake City.

Blaine Invernon of Bonners Ferry finished fifth at 132 pounds, beating Colton Orrino of Central Valley 7-3.

“Hopefully he can continue with the intensity and control he showed the remainder of the season,” Bonners Ferry coach Conrad Garner said.

Invernon also beat Orrino in the quarterfinals on Friday to advance to the semifinals.

“We had to completely change everything,” Garner said of the rematch. “We had a good match plan and he listened and followed it well.”

Joey Delgado of Hermiston (Ore.) was named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler.

TEAM SCORES

1, Mead 204. 2, Lewiston 171. 3, Post Falls 170.5. 4, Lake Stevens (Wash.) 165. 5, Tahoma (Covington, Wash.) 159.5. 6, Orting (Wash.) 125.5. 7, Kuna 117.5. 8, Chandler (Ariz.) 114.5. 9, Deer Park 108.5 10, Hermiston 108. 11, Central Valley 102. 12, Moses Lake 99. 13, Kelso (Wash.) 98.5. 14, University 92. 15, Graham-Kapowsin (Wash.) 80. 16, Coeur d’Alene 75.5. 17, East Valley 71.5. 18 (tie), Mt. Spokane, North Central, Todd Beamer (Federal Way, Wash.) 68. 21, Evergreen (Vancouver, Wash.) 60. 22, Riverside 58. 23, Bonney Lake (Wash.) 57.5. 24, Sentinel (Missoula) 56. 25, Libby 47. 26 (tie), New Plymouth, Sedro-Woolley (Wash.) 46. 28, Colville 45. 29, McCall 43.5. 30, Inglemoor (Wash.) 43. 31, Flathead (Kalispell) 42. 32, Cheney 41.5. 33, Lake City 39. 34, Chiawana (Pasco) 37.5. 36, Edmonds-Woodway (Wash.) 33. 37 (tie), Lakeland, Polson 32. 39, La Grande (Ore.) 30. 40 (tie), Bonners Ferry, Mt. Baker (Deming, Wash.) 26. 42, Lakeside 25. 43, Auburn (Wash.) 24. 44, Jenkins (Chewelah) 23. 45 (tie), Bishop Blanchet (Seattle), Kamiakin (Kennewick) 22. 47 (tie), Freeman, Lake Washington (Kirkland, Wash.) 20. 49 (tie), Potlatch, Timberlake 19. 51, Tonasket (Wash.) 18. 52, Kellogg 16. 53, Vashon Island (Wash.) 15. 54, Camas (Wash.) 12. 55, Sandpoint 10. 56, Mary Walker 8. 57 (tie), Ferris, Gonzaga Prep 6. 59, Republic 4.5. 60 (tie), Bothel, Moscow 0.

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES

106 — Tristan Moran, Chandler, d. Drake Foster, Post Falls, 6-4. 113 — Josh Newberg, Kelso, md. Jake Konzal, Deer Park, 12-2. 120 — Steve Hopkins, Tahoma, d. Michael Cook, Kuna, 3-2. 126 — Drew Templeman, Orting, d. Raymond Evans, New Plymouth, 8-1. 132 — Tyler Berger, Hermiston, d. Joey Palmer, Tahoma, 7-6 (OT). 138 — Joey Delgado, Hermiston, d. Shannon Maris, Orting, 11-4. 145 — Jeremy Golding, Mead, d. James Ost, Post Falls, 3-1. 152 — Nico Moreno, Moses Lake, p. Mitchell Bocook, North Central, 4:18. 160 — Chandler Rogers, Mead, d. Dylan Miller, Deer Park, 6-4. 170 — Sam Voigtlander, Mead, d. Diego Alvarado, Chandler, 3-2. 182 — Jordan Rogers, Mead, p. Ryan Olliges, Lake Stevens, :58. 195 — Garrett DeMers, Coeur d’Alene, d. Matt Hopkins, Tahoma, 7-6. 220 — Derrick Bender, Riverside, d. Ryan Rigney, Lewiston, 7-6. 285 — Dan Schoultz, Central Valley, d. Kyle Cosby, University, 6-3.

THIRD-FOURTH PLACE

106 — Casey Cobb, Kuna, p. Fred Green, Orting, 1:12. 113 — Michael Nguyen, Evergreen, d. Tre Unson, Todd Beamer, 9-2. 120 — Matthew Nguyen, Evergreen, d. John Kenyon, Lewiston, 16-3. 126 — Eric Soler, Lake Stevens, d. Beau Gleed, Moses Lake, 5-0. 132 — Bryce Parson, Lewiston, d. Kit Major, 14-2. 138 — Joe Grable, Deer Park, d. Ryan Gabel, University, 2-1. 145 — Lupe Delgado, Hermiston, d. Kyle Leir, Libby, 3-2. 152 — Tyler Booth, Post Falls, d. Billy Goforth, Mt. Spokane, 3-1. 160 — Larry Francis, Flathead, p. Austin Wilson, Post Falls, 1:22. 170 — Chandler Knight, Colville, d. Jake Lueders, Bonney Lake, 7-4. 182 — Niko Knezovich, Reardan, p. Jonathan Perales, Moses Lake, 2:15. 195 — Josh Koukal, Inglemoor, p. Peter Johnson, Bishop Blanchet, 4:15. 220 — Cody Shaffer, La Grande, d. Jack Michaels, Lake Washington, 7-2. 285 — Alec Postlewait, Mt. Baker, p. Brandon Johnson, Lake Stevens, 1:13.

FIFTH-SIXTH PLACE

106 — Drake Randall, Lewiston, d. Tyler Workman, Kelso, 4-0. 113 — Austin Dodson, Orting, d. Dakoda Reynolds, by forfeit. 120 — Tyler Wicken, Kelso, md. Jesse Peterson, Lake Stevens, 11-2. 126 — Josh Carlton, Lewiston, d. Dakota Stallions, New Plymouth, 5-2. 132 — Blaine Invernon, Bonners Ferry, d. Colton Orrino, Central Valley, 7-3. 138 — Ryan Klemp, Lewiston, d. Ian Steen, Graham-Kapowsin, 8-3. 145 — Grant Steen, Graham-Kapowsin, d. Brady Mast, Sedro-Woolley, 7-2. 152 — Nate Partenfelder, Lake City, d. Tyler McLean, Mead, by forfeit. 160 — Joey Dondero, Kuna, d. Chili Sabin, Bonney Lake, by forfeit. 170 — Cole Jesienouski, Post Falls, p. Travis Huffman, Lewiston, 2:17. 182 — Cody Johnson, Post Falls, d. Kurt Beck, Central Valley, 1-0. 195 — Cameron Schlotter, Cheney, p. Jaydn Wilson, Sentinel, :52. 220 — Shaquille Reed, Lake Stevens, d. James Volz, Mead, by forfeit. 285 — Cody Bocook, Mead, p. Avery Smetana, Flathead, 5:10.